Perfect cruise to Chichester
A Great day exploring Chichester and Hayling Island, 76nm.Just because the main cruising events are over for 2011, that doesn’t mean that we don’t get out on the water. On 29th October an informal cruise to Chichester Harbour was organised via the website Forum. To provide for a more social day, rather than taking two boats with one person on each, Marc and Mike decided to buddy up on Lem-Sip (Hot Lemon’s baby sibling) whilst Rick and I filled the Searider between us. 
It was the Searider’s first outing since I’d moved the console forward to improve its balance so we were keen to see how it ran. We had a great run from the end of the Itchen across the Portsmouth opening to look at the hovercraft launching before heading through the opening in the submarine barrier off Southsea, and on to the entrance to Chichester Harbour. We entered the harbour over Chichester bar at getting on for high tide with a following wind, so all was calm.
Rather than follow the Chichester Channel all the way up to Fishbourne, we picked up a visitor’s buoy off Itchenor and took the ferry ashore to search out the Ship Inn – not an entirely original idea as this was recommended in an old MBY (Motor Boat and Yachting) article – but it was a good call as the lunch in the Ship was excellent.
With it being Spring Tide and the roads in Itchenor being prone to flooding, it was just as well that I had packed my waders – unfortunately, I didn’t think far enough ahead and left them on the boat! This was fine for getting ashore, but by the time we returned to the boats they would have come in very handy to get from the shore onto the pontoon – luckily a nearby loading cart was found to make bridge and help get to the pontoon without getting wet feet!
We then pottered over to Bosham for an afternoon coffee/hot chocolate, and for Mike and Marc to sample the Bosham cream teas and chocolate cake.
Rather than come back out over Chichester bar, we decided to explore further and return round the top of Hayling Island - past Northney Marina, under Langston Bridge, through Langston Harbour and out through the opening between Eastney and Hayling Island. This passage can only be done when the conditions are just right - if the tide is too low you get stranded on the sand bank at the top of the island, and if the water’s too high you can’t get under Langston Bridge!
Fortunately the tides were just right for avoiding the two hazards mentioned – but as we had waited in the Bosham tea rooms for the tide to start dropping, it meant that by the time we came out of Langston Harbour the spring tide was in full ebb. The waves caused by water pouring out of Langston Harbour meeting the brisk South Easterly wind head-on were estimated to be about 2.5m from peak to trough (Mike’s guess). Lem-Sip skipped through the waves with Mike wearing a massive grin – but getting through this in the 4.7m Searider was a bit more of a challenge! Still, we managed it without incident and we were soon heading past Southsea to Gosport Marina to re-fill our petrol tanks before heading back home. 
We were fortunate to find the petrol at the marina still open – until the clocks changed that night, the petrol stayed open until 17.45. Had we done the cruise on the Sunday instead, the fuel berth would have closed at abou15.00 and Mike would have been towing us back!
We all had a great day – and visited placed that had been on our “to-do” list for ages. They are now firmly on our “must-do-again-soon list”!
Saturday, October 29, 2011 at 8:50PM | Share Article